A Part-Time Teacher and Part-Time Singer.

As you can see, I am not a possessional singer. I am a professional ESL Teacher, but let me show you what my hobby is. hope you like my songs: Love Story and U Bettah Be Prepared. Both were written by Lil' Dawg or Rodrigo Pelegrini Honorato, me! 

I have found out what makes me feel good when I am alone of feeling bad: SINGING. What about you? What makes you feel better? Hope you have an answer to this question, but if you don't, I suggest you sing whichever kind of music that makes you feel excited and cheerful. 

Hit me up with comments and suggestions,

Rodrigo Pelegrini Honorato aka Lil' Dawg
ESL Teacher and Part-Time Singer
rphingles@yahoo.com.br

The use of the term "FUCK"

What the FUCK is going on with y'all?

You might be thinking it is an awkward topic. Well, it is but alongside with its awkwardness you must agree that it is an extremely important word in the English language. It is so important that out of thousands of words that start with the letter "F", FUCK is the only one referred to as the "F-word".

Because of its important and the numerous emails requesting an explanation of the word FUCK, I together with the Flabbergasting English group have decided to post on the use of the term FUCK.

First of all, I would like to let you know that it is not a cool word to be used amongst your parents, teachers, bosses, or any other people you consider to be respected as an authority.

Second of all, it is considered to be a FOUL LANGUAGE. That is, you do not want to use this term at a job interview, church service, Sunday school, or with the principal and/or your teachers.

Okay, now that you are schooled with the social part of the word FUCK, we can start the pragmatical part, which means the usage itself by people who speak English natively or as a second language. This term is used in movies, series (some equivalent words such as "freak", "freaking", "frigging"), and definitely in songs. In addition, it is important to know that intonation and situation together will define what the word exactly means.

Check out the picture above.

EXAMPLES:

Bruno Mars, in his cool song "Billionaire" he says "I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad..." freaking = fucking which means "so much, very much..." so in this passage fucking only emphasizes how much he wants to be billionaire. Got it?

Oh fuck! = "Oh gosh!" it is usually used when someone is having a problem like he got caught on camera shoplifting. When the security guard approaches him, he goes like "Oh fuck! I got caught!"

Fuck yeah! = Hell yeah! = Heck yeah! = Oh yeah! - Generally used when something doing okay It is also used when either you excitedly accept an invitation or your team score a goal. Like, "Hey, wanna go to the party, I got two tickets 100% off". and you go "Fuck yeah, baby! ". 

Fuck you = Screw you = You already know it! If you don't, fuck you! (Just kidding!)

Shut the fuck up = shut up - It is usually used when someone says something really stupid or when the person is really mad. "Hey, I know why your girl broke up with you. It is because you are tall." and you go "What? Man, shut the fuck up your stupid!"

Those are only a few examples. Hope it helps you understand it better when you hear those. Have a fucking nice day!

Rodrigo Honorato

ESL Teacher

rphingles@yahoo.com.br

How to use the expression "No Longer" and "For Good"

What it do? = (What's up?, in Houston, TX )

I've been talking to some of my students who came up with this question: How can I use the expressions "no longer" and "for good"? They've told me that they could guess the meaning in the context, but they couldn't know exactly what they meant.

Well, I will try to be very clear. The expression "NO LONGER" means "NOT... ANYMORE" or "NO MORE".

Examples:

I will no longer ride a bike to work because I got me a car now.

                                            =

I will not ride a bike to work anymore because I got me a car now.

                                            =

I will ride a bike to work no more because I got me a car now.

That is it about it. I will no longer talk about it because I know y'all got it!

The expression "FOR GOOD" is used in replacement of "FOREVER" or "PERMANENTLY". As simple as that.


Examples:


The store will be closed for good.
                             =
The store will be closed down.(will not be opened anymore).
                             
Michael finally left home for good.


They tried to repair it many times before they fixed it for good.




That is all for today folks! 


Lil' Dawg
ESL Teacher
rphingles@yahoo.com.br

"Got" - For Simple Present (Colloquial American English)

What's up guys?,

I've been thinking about a lot and the idea of talking about some colloquial English crossed my mind. So, look, I'll try to be brief today. We're gonna talk about the use of the word "GOT", but NOT as the past tense of "GET". 

Well, as you might have already seen it b4, the word "GOT" can be used in SIMPLE PRESENT in order to replace the verb "HAVE" or "HAS", which is used for the third person singular. Usually when "GOT" is chosen, it comes without the auxiliary verb "DO" or "DOES"  in interrogative sentences (See picture above.)

That is, the question "GOT BEER?" means "DO YOU HAVE BEER?". From the looks of things, you might have already understood the use of "GOT" in SIMPLE PRESENT

Another use for the word "GOT" in Simple Present is when you have been taught something and you UNDERSTAND it. You, so as to talk like a native speaker, wanna say "I GOT IT!" instead of saying "I UNDERSTAND IT".

The other use is a short for the expression "I got your back" which means "I'll back you up" or "I'll pay for you!" or "I'll help you out." So, people usually say "I got you!" which is also swapped for "Gotcha!" 

See some examples:

James: I got some money in the bank

Mike: Ya got money for the beer?

Jake: Press the yellow button then you install it, okay?

Brian: Oh okay, I got it.

Tyler: The problem is that I can't go to the party because I've run out of money.

Micah: Don't worry dude, I got you!

  

Vania: I got a terrible backache. Ya got some painkiller? 

Dawg: Gotcha baby. I'll get it for ya!

You might be asking yourself what NEGATIVE sentence would be. For you to make the NEGATIVE of  "GOT" all you have to is to add the, also colloquial made-up word "AIN'T" before it. It is usually used in replacement of DON'T HAVE or DOESN'T HAVE. See examples bellow:

I ain't got no money. = I don't have any money. 

She ain't got no time. = She doesn't have any time. 

Well, now that you got schooled with some expressions, I can peel outta here. Got it?

Lil' Dawg
ESL Teacher
Twitter: @ Dawg_Houston

"though" Vs. "but"

What's up with you guys,

Well, I have been wondering how these two conjunctions are used and decided to post on their usages. I really hope it helps clarify them for you.

THOUGH and BUT are two conjunctions of contrast, which means they are used in situations which the first clause and the second has different or adverse ideas. The word THOUGH is used by native English speakers, mainly Americans, in an informal situation and mostly in spoken language.

Although, these two conjunctions are similar and used in the same situations, there is a small difference between them, besides their spelling, it is where it comes in a sentence. 

Usually the conjunction BUT comes in-between the two clauses. See examples below: 

• I'm busy today, but we could meet tomorrow.
• It sounds like fun, but isn't it dangerous?
• I thought he'd been drinking, but I wasn't completely sure.
• We had a long break today, but I didn't enjoy it.
• We are close friends, but I haven't seen her in years.

And the conjunction THOUGH usually comes at the end of the second clause. It is not a grammatical rule, it is only how it is used by native speakers. That is, it is pragmatically perfect. See examples below: 

• I'm busy today. We could meet tomorrow, though.
• It sounds like fun. Isn't it dangerous, though?
• I thought he'd been drinking. I wasn't completely sure, though.
• We had a long break today. I didn't enjoy it, though.
• We were close friends. I haven't seen her in years, though.

In the US, it is really common to see people using "though" and non-native speakers do not usually understand it at once. Check it on TV shows and movies. 

Thank y'all for stopping by,

Lil' Dawg

EST English
rphingles@yahoo.com.br